Regus Business Center

Sameer P. got it right, so I won’t ramble on and repeat the same things. I’ll just add that I agree with everything in his review. I had many similar issues.
I’ll add a couple of things that happened to me. When I terminated my lease, I was also hit with the «office cleaning» fee which was a couple hundred dollars. And because I had stupidly agreed to the «security deposit» and they had be over a barrel.
If you choose to do business with them, flat out refuse to pay any deposit. They will insist that you pay it and make you think that «everyone pays it». Everyone does not pay it. Just refuse, and walk if they keep it up.
The other thing that happened, which just speaks to the sheer disorganization at the home office, is that I continued to receive phone bills for months after I moved out, for phone service — that I never used when I was there!!! I had a voip phone that I paid for separate from Regus. Yet they kept sending me phone bills. I had to hound them to erase me from their system, which they finally did after about 6 months.

If after reading all of the negative reviews here and other places, you still plan on using Regus, please do the following:
1. Read and understand what you are signing. (It’s not easy to get out of it)
2. Beware of autorenewal dates and language
3. Do not rely on or accept any verbal statements from the staff.
4. Understand what «variable charges» are.
5. Refer to number one again.
It is hard to like a company that operates the way Regus does. Not every business you’ll deal with has fair policies and good ethics. Regus is one of them. Do your own due dilligence. If you cannot do it yourself, have an attorney look at the contract for you. You’ll be glad you did.
Lastly, if you do visit a Regus center, ask to see the bathrooms. See how many people are in there and what it looks like. The bathrooms are usually in disrepair and they aren’t large enough to service the number of people in the building. Seriously, it’s bad when you have an office and want to use the men’s room and you have to wait in line like a Red Sox game. Guess what? Bathrooms aren’t rentable, therefore, they don’t have enough. Before you end your visit, ask again to see the bathrooms. See how many people are in there. Probably 6 people with 2 on deck.

Do not use Regus if you are a small business watching over your money tightly. They will nickel and dime you for every single thing possible and will attempt to do so without telling you.
You have to be very clear about asking what are their monthly fees. They have an office fee but generally you end up paying several hundred more if you require a phone and internet. They also charge a mandatory fee for beverages (if its mandatory why is it not part of the quoted price??).
Make sure to ask about startup fees because if you do not they will charge you outrageous startup fees numbering hundreds of dollars. But if you do ask about them, you can negotiate it down to something fair.
Further, they have a ridiculous three month Virtual Office agreement upon termination of your lease that is hidden in the fine print of the terms and conditions. No matter how many times you ask about any other fees they won’t mention this fee which will totally roughly about $ 750. They also have a wear and tear fee which they do not mention.
I am currently in the process of contesting the Virtual Office and wear and tear fee. I was very clear with them about having a fixed budget and that I wasn’t going to be using Regus because after factoring in all their fees it wasn’t cost effective for me. So, the lady in an attempt to get my business reduced my fees to a $ 25 startup fee. Yet, I am still being hit with the end of agreement fees. I haven’t gotten a clear response from them, but I think they are trying to say that they were only waiving the startup fees.
But, I had told the lady what my budget was and that the startup fees pushed me over my budget. So, if $ 150 in startup fees is too much for me to swallow for a 3 month office, I’m obviously not going to agree to $ 750 in end of agreement fees. She never mentioned that fee and she told me I wouldn’t be charged any fees besides the $ 25. But because its supposedly in the T&C they want the money.
The funny part is the «Virtual Office» is for answering phone calls and forwarding mail. Yet, I never had a phone number with Regus and I didn’t receive a single piece of mail. So, they want to charge me $ 747 to answer phone calls to a phone line that doesn’t exist and receive mail that will never arrive? I forgot to mention I can’t just refuse to pay the bill and walk away because they ask for two months rent as a deposit before you move in. So, I’m stuck arguing the fee with them.
Anyway, besides the above problems, Regus offers very nice and convenient offices. Their internet connections are a bit slow though. Before you sign with Regus make sure to negotiate
1) no end of agreement Virtual Office fee
2) no end of agreement «exit» or «wear and tear» fee
3) no automatic renewal of agreement
4) reduced startup fees to a level you are comfortable with
5) ask for an itemized list of fees above the standard «office» fee such as internet, phone, beverages, and the like.
6) a reasonable deposit